Neil Young Performs Carnegie Hall, Keeps His Fans In Check

Neil Young started a four-night run at Carnegie Hall on Monday, and stunned his fans when he corrected them for incorrect clapping. He is a veteran, and a musical icon, certainly having the authority to correct his fans on something such as the beat.

Neil Young has made a wildly successful career for himself over the years as a solo artist, along with his bands Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. He started the run of shows with an acoustic show.

Being told off by the performer that one goes to see is clearly not what they plan on when attending a concert, but perhaps in some cases it is necessary in order to teach that crowd a lesson on how the song actually goes.

During the performance, he was stopped when the crowd was incorrectly clapping along to the Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young hit “Ohio,” and he proceeded to silence the fans. “Ohio” was written by the group in response to the shootings at Kent State in 1970.

Part of the crowd was clapping along, but according to Neil Young, they were not on beat, which really frustrated him as a performer.

He immediately turned on the emergency brake during the performance and yelled to his crowd “Wrong! It’s something that you probably don’t know, but there’s a hell of a distance between you and me.”

Neil Young is now 68-years-old, and when making a return to Carnegie Hall, he decided to play more of his social and political songs than the big chart-topping hits, which may also have been disappointing for some people.

What an amazing solo show Neil Young played at Carnegie Hall last night. I can still hear it- so beautiful! pic.twitter.com/aVXJlETrlt

He also recently released an album called “Live At The Cellar Door,” which is an album from the archives, and was recorded in 1970, just days before his solo debut at Carnegie Hall.

On another occasion during the night when hearing people talking in the audience, Neil Young told the crowd “No, you paid real good money to get in here, so you should be able to listen to each other.”

While most musicians would not take the time to stand up to their fans in the way that Neil Young did, he may just have that power to do so, and will be continued to be viewed as a musical icon.

He finished Monday’s show with his hit songs “Heart Of Gold” and “After The Gold Rush.”

I’d like to see him do his TRANS album live, which I thought showed his willingness to go where others least expected him to. The man is as chameleon-like as Bowie, and that is the best complement anyone can give a music icon who has stood the test of time. IMHO but of course.